Lately my 4 year old son has been saying he's "scared of the shadows" and doesn't want to go to sleep. HE always was my worst sleeper, but had been fine for quite a while. It's especially important to get him over this cause he has now started preschool and three days a week he has to get up early to go. I've tried everything from flashlights he can go to bed with, to an extra long movie hoping he'll fall asleep watching it. Being as he is a night person like me though, the movie doesn't usually work. Any suggestions?
My 3 1/2 daughter seems to be more scared at night if she took a nap that day and had wasn't tired at bedtime. Maybe eliminating any nap would help. Sweet dreams!
My son had the same thing! I talked to his preschool teacher and she was already planning a unit about shadows. She had a bunch of books and that helped my son. Ask his teacher too. I have found that they usually have a lot of different resources or ideas that I hadn't thought of.
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Try playing with shadows both outside (during the day and the early evening)and in his bedroom (during the day and at night). We play shadow tag, trace shadows with sidewalk chalk, make silly shadows, point out shadows made by different objects, make shadow puppets on the wall, etc. We also have a flashlight that has different caps that you can put on the end to make animal shadows on the wall. The one we have came from Yellowstone Park but I have seen them other places around where we live (including the gift shop at the MN zoo). Ours has a bear. Maybe he could use an animal shadow to chase away the scary shadows.
My son was too, we recently got a Curious George video at family video about a cave and shadows and now he is not afraid anymore.
Sound's like you may need some monster spray. When my older two girls were having issues with shadows and monsters, I purchased an air freshner and labeled it as "monster spray". The philosophy behind "monster spray" is that we (humans) don't like stinky smells, so monsters don't like nice smells. So the air freshner "stinks" for monsters and they stay away. I'd allow them to use their monster spray before bedtime to scare away the monsters.
I've heard of people using water in a spray bottle, but my girls needed something with staying power so that I could leave the room. Since the scent lingered, I could leave and they would fall asleep.
I agree with the monster spray! We have some. I don't know where you can buy it locally, but the website is www.byebyemonsterspray.com
My daughter also doesn't like the shadows in her room. At night we use a Star Turtle from Cloud B. You can find them at baby gift type stores, online...eBay, etc. They are fairly bright and if you get the regular turtle (not the sea turtle...which we also have) it lights the whole room with stars....green, blue or orange. It stays on for about 45 minutes then shuts off automatically. It's also very easy for kids to use....both my 3yo and 16 mo. old can turn it on and off by themselves. It has gotten great reviews for "curing" nighttime fears!
Good luck!
my little granddaughter seemed to be scared of the dark for a while but I showed her that in the dark, everything is the same as in the light. Have look around the room in the light and ask what he sees. Then have him close his eyes and ask him what he sees. He will tell you nothing. Ask him if the stuff all disappeared or if things are different in the room just because he can't see them. I did this with my granddaughter. I always turned out the light and she would say "but grandma, I can't see you" I would tell her "but you can feel me and hear me" This also seemed to calm her down.
Sounds like he might be a little stressed or nervous from starting preschool. I would eliminate the movie. Any type of screen-activity (TV, computer, video games) an hour or so before bed makes it harder to sleep. It has something to do with the effect of the lights and movement on the eyes and brain. Check out Mary Sheedy Kurcinka's book, "Sleepless in America," and her website, parentchildhelp.com. He needs a quiet routine starting early in the evening, bath, reading, etc. and make sure he's getting plenty of exercise early in the day. Can you also talk to him about preschool? He might be anxious from the change. Maybe find out from the teacher how it's been going in school. Good luck!
We have a small bottle of monster spray that I rec'd but haven't needed to use. This one seems to be a lavender based one so if you get some linen spray and put it in a tiny spray bottle, you could tell your child it was monster spray. The lavender scent stays behind but isn't overpowering. And of course, lavender is suppose to be relaxing so I"m sure it helps with the sleeping.
We had gotten my son the turtle night light back in the spring. He loved it because of the starts that shine on the ceiling. We used it until summer (so about 3 months) and then haven't used it since then. He prefers to sleep with all the lights off so we even turn off the power strips in his room so that there's absolutely no light.
A few things, that I see some have said already. My adopted daughter has always had trouble sleeping. She too is afraid of shadows. She is 10 now and can tell us more. According to her....there can be NO light on. Small bedside lights and nightlights cause shadows. In fact she sleeps now with an sleep eye mask on. That was something we learned in therapy. Also, her therapist told us of "monster spray" when she was younger. We just sprayed an air freshner in her room at bed time. It work fairly well when she was little.
The main thing....if he is afraid of shadows, get rid of the shadows. Turn on the radio very low to give the mind something else to think about, but not loud enough to sing along.
M.! Yes I have the best dvd, it is Bedtime with Elmo and it addresses all sleeping issues, my 2 year old loves it. There is a skit on shadows! Check it out! We got ours @ Walmart
